I said, "Messenger of Allah, I have a place out in the desert where I stay, and I pray there, praise be to Allah. So instruct me about a particular night on which I should come down to this mosque."He said, "Come down on the night of the twenty-third."I asked his son, "How did your father observe it?"He replied, "He would enter the mosque after praying the afternoon prayer, and he would not leave it for any need until he prayed the dawn prayer. Once he had prayed the dawn prayer, he would find his mount at the door of the mosque, mount it, and head back to his desert dwelling."
حدثنا أحمد بن يونس حدثنا زهير أخبرنا محمد بن إسحق حدثنا محمد بن إبراهيم
قلت يا رسول الله إن لي بادية أكون فيها وأنا أصلي فيها بحمد الله فمرني بليلة أنزلها إلى هذا المسجد فقال انزل ليلة ثلاث وعشرين فقلت لابنه كيف كان أبوك يصنع قال كان يدخل المسجد إذا صلى العصر فلا يخرج منه لحاجة حتى يصلي الصبح فإذا صلى الصبح وجد دابته على باب المسجد فجلس عليها فلحق بباديته
No references are available.
[Its chain of transmission is hasan]. Bayhaqi narrated it, 4/309, 310, from the hadith of Abu Dawud, with this wording, and Ibn Khuzayma graded it sahih, no. 2200. Its basic account is found in Muslim, no. 1168. See also no. 1249.